John Grant to take part in The Three Ring Circus – Sensoria Festival

The very first ‘3 Ring Circus’ in Sheffield in association with Sensoria Festival has been announced. The gigs will take place on the evening of the 8th October. Doors will be at 7pm and artists will be exhausted by 11pm.

What the hell is it?

It’s 3 amazing artists playing 3 shows all on the same night.

There are 3 small venues all with a very different atmosphere:

Trafalgar Warehouse: This is an old industrial warehouse in the centre of Sheffield

Upper Chapel: A beautiful ornate chapel close to the Crucible theatre in Sheffield

The Drama Studio: This is the University drama studio, little used for music but a fantastic little theatre

How does it work?

Each artist acts as the opening act in a venue, plays 40 minutes stripped down/acoustic set then jumps into a waiting car outside which will speed them to the next venue.

And the same again to the last venue.

So each artist becomes the opener, middle act and headline – and they say democracy doesn’t work!

And the audience sits still, maybe has another pint, has a chat in between whilst the artists break all speed restrictions in order to get to the next show.

The only catch is no one knows what order the artists will appear at which venue. So it’s pot luck. But the important thing is you get to see:

John Grant, Richard Hawley and Bill Ryder-Jones all on the same bill in the most intimate surroundings.

John Grant

“Anyone who has followed the arc of Grant’s albums over the last five years will have a handle on the former Czarsfrontman’s specialisms – acute candour, eruditely expressed, dressed up in strings or dressed down as squelchy synth-pop. Over the course of two gushingly received solo albums, a Brit nomination for best international male and a tour with the BBC’s Northern Sinfonia, Grant has set to music two decades of personal drama, fuelled by drink and drugs”. – The Guardian

“Singer-songwriter John Grant has become synonymous with deeply felt pain, long-cherished anger, soul-exposing honesty and biting humour”. – The Guardian